Mr. Jones "takes over" stirring the fudge ...
I was reading the recipe on the side of the jar of Marshmallow Fluff for the NEVER FAIL FUDGE I was planning to make this morning and ran into an obstacle. Rats! Step 1 said to "combine the first five ingredients in a large sauce pan and stir over low heat until blended." Ah, yes. I can do that ... very simple to understand. Step 2 said to "bring it to a boil over moderate heat, being careful not to mistake escaping air bubbles for boiling ... " Oh, oh. I'm in trouble now. What on earth is that supposed to mean? Followed by, "then boil slowly, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. (Use soft ball test)." Oh, great. Now I am completely done in. "Use soft ball test" was completely baffling to my extreme UNculinary mind and experience.
Good thing I am married to a chemist and a part-time genius. I read Step 2 to Mr. Jones as he was relaxing on the couch in the family room. He immediately got up and grabbed my most hated cookbook in all the world, "The Joy of Cooking" (there are NO pictures, few diagrams, NO visuals to aid the challenged few -- it should be named, "The Dread of Cooking!), thumbed through it and found in the Candies and Confections section a paragraph or two about candy and thermometer temperatures. We do not have a candy thermometer, and our meat thermometer went on the blink a few weeks ago, but "The Joy of Cooking" has 7 tests to run (the thread test, the soft ball, the firm ball, the hard ball, the soft crack, the hard crack, and the carmelized sugar tests) so that you can tell "the subtle differences in color, bubbling and threading that reveal crucial temperatures." Since Mr. Jones is a chemist, this was right up his alley. He is not athletically-inclined, but said if I got the concoction going, he could be depended on to run the "soft ball" test so that we would know the temperature was right.
I got everything in the pan and stirred it all like crazy, but the boiling thing confused me and I definitely mistook boiling for air bubble escapees ... so Mr. Jones rescued the pot, did his soft ball test, and our fudge was a complete success! Whew! The recipe made enough to completely fill two small circular tins -- just right!
FYI: I finished packing Jesse's Christmas box and just returned home from the Post Office. I had purchased a 20 x 14 x 10 box (for $3.49) and packed it really tight. I was concerned about the weight and what it would cost to ship ... but after all, this is Christmas, and this is the only box I have sent to Jesse! The box weighed in at 25 pounds, 7 ounces and it cost $20.25 to ship Priority Mail! :) I was so relieved! Mr. Jones was pessimistically predicting quite a bit more shipping cost than the actual, (and I was prepared for the worst) so I just right then and there said my thanks to the LORD!
P.S. Wasn't it good to read Jesse's post this morning? He sounds so good!
2 comments:
Oh, Mr. Jones the chemist...he looks so earnest in this picture!
I have friends who LOVE *The Joy of Cooking*, but I have always thought the book looked rather intimidating. Of course, the thought of cooking is rarely a joy for me--unless it's the thought of someone else cooking for me. :)
Hello
I was 'googling' "soft ball" test myself to see what that was and your blog came up - loved your fudge making story. Sounded so much like my sister's and mine from last Friday night.
Very cool blog - I'll check back again.
Carmine
Pittsburgh, PA
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